Microsoft patents '3D living room'

Mike Luttrell, 11th September 2012

Microsoft wants to turn your living room into a virtual gaming machine.
The software giant has submitted a patent, as spotted by UK video game website CVG, called the Environmental Display. The technology behind it is similar to that of the Xbox 360 Kinect.

However, instead of looking into a camera to replicate actions on a TV screen, you'd be interacting directly with objects and environments on your living room wall.

This would require the installation of a special projector within the room, and also requires users to wear specially tailored 3D glasses. But the result, at least hypothetically, would be like having your own virtual reality world in your existing home.

The exact verbiage from the patent calls it "an immersive display environment is provided to a human user by projecting a peripheral image onto environmental surfaces around the user – the peripheral images serve as an extension to a primary image displayed on a primary display."

Microsoft has shown off this kind of technology before, in high-concept demonstrations of what could be done in future "smart homes." This is the first time, however, that the company has presented it as a video game application. It is also the first time that the use of 3D glasses has been included.

We may not have hoverboards and flying cars yet, but this futuristic concept is really want we want to see more of in the 21st century.